Read and Think!

While parents welcome museum advisories, some ask if museum is playing it too safe

Regular museumgoer Justin
Foo was surprised when he found himself running into more than 10
warning statements for works of art at the Singapore Art Museum (SAM)
during a recent visit.

Of the 130 works of art
recently exhibited, 12 of them carry advisories issued by the museum on
content that is considered mature or graphic, or contains scenes of
nudity or violence.

These mentions appear as
standalone signs at entrances to galleries exhibiting these works or as
remarks at the end of wall labels for the works.

The advisories have caught the public's attention and drawn mixed views on whether they are necessary.

Mr Foo, 20, a national
serviceman, was befuddled, for one, by the warning for the mixed media
installation Cloud Nine by Sakarin Krue-On. He felt the work, which
includes a video showing pups sucking on their mother's teats was not
graphic and the advisory uncalled for.

Similarly, Mr Howard
Rutkowski, 56, founder of curatorial and art advisory firm Fortune
Cookie Projects, said the warning of 'scenes of violence or graphic
content' for Chinese artist Zhou Xiaohu's work is 'unnecessary'.

Zhou's installation,
Crowd Of Bystanders, depicts vignettes of news in the media such as
police busting an illegal prostitution ring using videos of animated
clay figurines and clay sculptures.

Mr Rutkowski said: 'You
see the warning on the wall text and you think something terrible is
coming up but his work is pretty low-key compared to the stuff people
see in their living rooms on TV.'

Filipino artist Agnes
Arellano, 63, is amused that her sculpture Haliya Bathing, which shows a
naked pregnant woman, has a warning for 'scenes of nudity or sexual
content'.

She said: 'I find the
disclaimer funny and unnecessary because nudity is normal inside museums
where you have works such as classic Greek sculptures of nudes.'

Some people would ask if
the museum is playing it too safe and trying to pre-empt any complaints
by putting up advisories for artworks that could have a remote chance of
offending or upsetting viewers.

Art consultant and art
lawyer Lindy Poh, 42, said she has noticed more organisers and venues
for art shows putting up such warnings. She believes it is a move to
counteract viewers who, offended by the nature of some exhibits, go
online to post inflammatory comments.

She added: 'An advisory
shifts some of that responsibility of viewing content to parents or
guardians of young children and visitors, who cannot then say they were
not cautioned.'

She said the challenge
for museums lies in deciding how many such advisories should be issued
and ensuring that they are meaningful and not out of touch with the
ground.

But parents whom Life!
interviewed, however, said the signs help them decide which galleries
they can enter with their young children.

Visitors such as civil
servant T.L. Lim, 30, appreciated the signs because they allowed works
with possibly controversial content to be exhibited without offending
people's sensibilities.

Other works with
advisories at SAM include the video installations by artist Tracy
Moffatt, which are considered to have 'graphic content and scenes of
nudity or violence'. Her works are montages of video clips from
different movie genres and some of the works exhibited show scenes of
buildings being blown up and fleeting moments of naked couples sharing
intimate moments.

There are also advisories
at the museum that warn visitors about the health and safety concerns
of works such as the installation Journey Of A Yellow Man No. 6: History
And Self by Lee Wen, which uses spices that some viewers may be
allergic to, and the video installation Hamletmachine by Nalini Malani,
which uses strobe lighting and may affect guests with epilepsy.

Asked about the
advisories, SAM director Tan Boon Hui, 43, said the museum caters to
visitors of varying ages and walks of life and it is important that it
finds ways to make these different visitors 'feel welcomed and have a
meaningful encounter with art'.

He said: 'Advisories
serve to inform members of the public on content so they can make an
informed decision on whether to view the work or not, while keeping the
artwork accessible.'

A spokesman for the
National Heritage Board, which manages five museums here including SAM,
said the use of advisories applies to all exhibitions in its museums,
regardless of style or era.

Both artists had works
depicting women from South-east Asian countrysides dressed in their
usual style - topless and wearing sarongs.

The board's spokesman
said its curators and museum directors assess artefacts and artworks put
on show and they decide on the appropriate advisory for works that may
be potentially contentious.

Artists whose works carry
such warnings at SAM empathise with the museum's decision but they
would rather not have their works labelled this way.

One such artist is
Indonesian Entang Wiharso, 44, whose installation Temple Of Hope: Forest
Of Eyes has an advisory for 'mature' content. The work is shaped like a
hut with images such as entwined human bodies and bewitched figures cut
out from its metal walls.

Entang said: 'I am
pleased that the museum has chosen to collect and exhibit my work and it
takes the risk to present ideas and experiences that may challenge
viewers' expectations.

'I would, however, prefer
the work to stand alone without a warning. My goal with this
installation, in fact, is to promote tolerance. I wanted to create a
contemporary temple that allows us to think about diversity, rather than
seeing the world through a narrow mindset.'

Chinese artist Zhou, 52,
said his installation, Crowd Of Bystanders, has been shown in four
museums, including the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium and the
National Art Museum of China in 2009, without an advisory. He said SAM's
advisory could stifle viewers' imaginations.

Echoing this sentiment,
Singaporean artist Lee Wen, 55, whose recent exhibition at SAM had
advisories on nudity, said: 'It is not nudity that I am talking about in
my work but the sign may change the way people perceive it.'

He wears nothing except a
pair of briefs and a coat of yellow paint over his body in his
performance art series, Journey Of A Yellow Man, which was documented at
the art museum show.

Customer service
executive Christine Wong, 34, who recently visited SAM with her
six-year-old daughter, though, found the warnings helpful.

She said: 'They prepare me for what to expect and if I don't think the content is suitable for my child, we can skip it.'

She said art-lovers
should be able to look beyond the warnings and discern the meaningful
and important issues that the works address.

Ms Tan Yen Peng, 41, a
Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts lecturer in art history and studio
consultation, suggested refining the practice of placing advisories in
museums to displaying just a sign with the simple message 'Parental
guidance required' at the entrance to an exhibition.

She said: 'Having words
in the advisory that specify the types of obscenity could be disastrous
as it may interfere or disrupt the audiences' natural response to the
artworks.'